Dearest Diary,

Fried Animal Intestines.

Dearest Diary,

Didn't I tell you that I would prove it to you?So quit haranguing me for something was beyond my control.

How beyond my control?The type of questions you ask me!

Hormones okay! And I was tired. Do you know how hard I have been slaving, so I can have this week off with my family?

Yes, I also plan to do some fieldwork. Read about it. It's called multitasking. I can't just sit around and do nothing. My mind has to work and yes, my mouth, my eyes and my legs as well.

At least, I am not totally blowing them off and anyway, I'll still do it wether you like it or not. It's sad really. Especially since I expected you to support me, but all you've done perorating me, condemning me when my only crime is abhorring the dismal sound, of a jiggled empty piggy bank.

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"Attara, how are you? The last time I saw you, you were very small." My auntie Teresa, whom I was yet to meet greets me, while she and my mother hover behind our seats.

"Hi auntie Teresa," I say turning to extend my hand in greeting.

"Ūnu niwe mūrūme wake?" My auntie asks turning to address my mother in their vernacular.

"Nīwe tūkwenda amūgūra, īndī mwarī gakūīūmia kīongo."

They continue to gossip right under our noses and Caleb raises his eyebrows suggestively at me.

"Nīkī na būrīa arī muthaka?" my auntie says taking a seat on the extra chair a waiter has brought her.

"Būu gūkamūria ūrī weū, nūntū anatwi tūtīkūmwerewa." she replys and my auntie nods in understanding.

"Troy," my mother says finally noticing Troy's puzzled expression. "This is Teresa, my big sister."

Troy smiles as if they were not making him feel uncormfortable just a moment ago and stretches out his hand to greet my auntie.

"Troy White. I am Briella's dad." he says, alluding proudly to his daughter who is seated cormfortably in his lap.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Troy." my auntie replys smiling back at him. "How do you find Kenya so far?" she adds, taking a menu from one of our waiters.

"It's fine and a lot cooler than home."

My auntie nods before turning to my mum.

"Kwani Grace, Shea na Marie wameenda wapi?" she asks changing from English to Swahili. She is not being rude. Mixing languages is something most Kenyans are fond of.

"Loo." Caleb replies flippantly and my aunt shakes her head in laughter.

"Hao wasichana na kujipodoa!" she exclaims, launching into another vernacular conversation about the ways of our generation, with my mum.

"What will you have?" I ask, turning to Troy and pointing at the menu before us. It is mostly Kienyeji food, so I am sure that he will need my help with it.

"What is Matumbo?" he asks, pointing the Arial bold letters printed on the laminated sheet of paper.

"Fried animal intestines. Most sheep's, goat's or cattle's." I reply and he scrunches his nose in disgust.

"What? They make great Matoke and casings for Mūtura."

"I am not so sure I want to eat that especially when I am travelling. Let me stick to something familiar, like the Pilau and beef stew?"

I nod and pass the order to the waiter. I also order a plate of french fries and two sausages for Bri and chapati and beef stew for myself, while David, like a typical Kenyan man, orders a plate of Ugali and Matumbo, just to prove to Troy how scrumptious they are.

"Just don't sleep on the wheel from being too full." I tell him jokingly.

"From a small plate of Ugali? That is nothing. You should see what I normally eat." he says rubbing his belly and causing Bri to burst into a fit of giggles.

"Right. A drum is fitting with your kind of apetite."

"Ni mchongoano sasa?" David replies with a raised eyebrow.

I am saved from replying when the girls arrive causing a ruckus that draws attention from the neighbouring tables.

"What are they saying?" Troy asks furrowing his brow in confusion.

"Them, or the entire conversation."

"I was asking about them," he says pointing at Shea and my cousins. "But I wouldn't mind a brief translation of the entire conversation."

"Well, my auntie and mum were gossiping about us. To precise auntie said that you're goodlooking and mum said I was bullheaded."

"I kind of gathered that from the way they were looking at us and Caleb's reaction."

"Right." I nod my head in agreement. "Next auntie asked where the girls were,"

"And Caleb said the loo."

"Yes. Then she went on a rant about their fascination with make up and the rest was more gossip about the odd ways of our generation."

"Okay. And what did David just tell you?"

"I asked if she was making fun of me?" David replies and Troy nods his head finally connecting all the dots.

"How is it you know this? You grew up in Batchelor, right?"

"Yes. But we used to visit alot as kids so I picked up the language."

"Yea, she even came up with a kiswahili day just to make sure that we kept practising the stuff." Shea adds and the entire table bursts into laughter.

Our food finally arrives and we continue with the light conversation and I am finally introduced to Marie, who apparently is younger than me but older than Shea.

Unlike Grace, Marie is still in campus and surprisingly engaged at the tender age of twenty two, causing the two hens in our midsts to start piling on the rest of us, to settle down fast.

"You know, if you like we can beat them all and throw our own wedding in record time." Troy leans in to my side and whispers.

"Troy!" I warn albeit softly, so that the rest of the table cannot hear.

"Ūkwona? Ntīkwīrire? Eūmītie kīongo ta mbunda." My mother tells my auntie conspiratorily.

I should have known, the two women would keep studying us even when we thought they weren't.

"You see what you've done?" I mumble, poking Troy in his ribs with my elbow.

"Ouch! What is it now?" He asks turning to face me.

"They heard us and they called me bullheaded again." I tell him snakingly.

Troy looks from me, to my mum, then to my auntie and lets out a chuckle, obviously amused.

"Stop laughing. It's not funny!"

"They're accurate you know. If you would only let me, I would gladly sweep you off your feet and within a second."

"I like my feet where they are, thank you, and please, can we postpone this conversation for later? We are drawing a certain curious pair eyes." I mumble, looking pointedly at my sister.

Troy follows my gaze and his eyes land on Shea, comprehension finally dawning on his features, as she turns and sends a smirk our way.

"Oh! Our number one fan?" he asks me, flashing her a pearly smile and I nod my head in agreement.

It is safe to say that in this moment, I am really not sure whom I should be more terrified of. My meddling mother or my overzealous sister?

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As we journey through the countryside, I am finally able to view my mother's home country in a new light, and it's just not its varied landscapes, made up of plateaus and high mountains that capture me, but also its rich biodiversity, contained within the many different topographical zones that extend from the sea level, upward to the lofty mountain ranges, that sometimes rise up to more than ten thousand feet, above sea level.

Most of these are volcanic, with highest of being Mount Kenya, an extinct volcano that is located just south of the equator and east of the great Rift Valley, within the central Kenyan highlands.

It rises up to over seventeen thousand feet above sea level and has a great biodiversity in terms of its wildlife, hence the National parks that make up both it's upper and part of its lower slopes.

There are also many rivers that radiate from its central core, which when coupled with its fertile volcanic soils and ample rainfall, make for good cultivation land for the bantu tribes that inhabit the lower slopes.

It is from one of these central highland groups that my mother hails. The Meru people to be precise, who occupy Meru town and the sorrounding areas on the eastern windward slopes of Mount Kenya.

"This place reminds me of Tasmania." Troy says looking around my grandmother's homestead, before jumping off Bridget.

I nod in agreement although there are some slight diferences between the two, such as the higher altitude, cooler temperatures and the abscence of the four seasons due to its close proximity to the equator.

"Your grandmother lives right next to the forest." David notes, staring broodingly at the looming Meru oak trees that spread before us.

"Yea. I don't know why I didn't remember that. I must have blocked or lost that memory from when I was a child."

"So does the wildlife ever come this way?" Troy asks staring at the huge banana plantation on our side of the fence. It is right below the huge bungalow and is only seperated from the Paspalum dimidiatum by a narrow contour bearing a short duranta hedge.

"Mum used to tell us tales of elephants, hyenas and monkeys, but I don't think they come out anymore. I am sure the electric fence we noticed before works to keep them in."

Troy nods his head and returns to the vehicle to release the sleeping Bri, from her carseat.

"Attara! Come here and meet your grandmother. She's asking for you." mother yells across the lawn from the bungalow's front doors.

"Let us get the things first," I tell her pointing at Bridget's rear end.

"No. The guys can do that later. Don't keep her waiting, she wants to meet you all now."

I nod and she heads back in inside.

"You heard her, let's go and please, can someone wake that guy up?" I say turning to point at a sleeping Caleb.

"Jetlag." Troy says as David moves to poke the guy with the car keys.

"Wha...what?" my cousin snaps up looking around wildly and we all burst out laughing.

"Hey sleepy head, we arrived. Everyone else is in the house and grandma wants to meet us," I tell him pointing to the house.

"Oh, Okay." He replies scrambling out the car to join us.

David closes the door behind him locks Bridget before joining us too and together, we begin the short stroll to the house.